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Reports

Reports provides short summaries of the latest findings of academic institutes, think-tanks, charities, pressure groups and government and international bodies from 2011 to 2014. The reports included can, in the main, be accessed free of charge. For a review of the academic literature, for which journal subscriptions are required, the Social Policy digest is a good source.

An overall cap on government spending on benefits will start in 2015, the Chancellor George Osborne has announced in his Autumn Statement. The idea of a 'welfare spending' cap was first put forward by the Chancellor earlier in the year in his 2013 Budget.

There was a 'surprising' standstill during the last decade in poverty reduction in Europe, despite generally positive political and economic circumstances, says a new report from an Antwerp-based think tank.

The researchers analyse trends found in large-scale cross-country datasets, in particular the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

Two government programmes aimed at helping families with multiple problems will miss their targets unless improvements are made, according to a report from the National Audit Office.

One programme, Troubled Families, was introduced by the DCLG to ‘turn around’ in three years the lives of 120,000 families identified as facing multiple challenges. A second, Families with Multiple Problems, is designed by the DWP to move 22 per cent of people in families with multiple problems towards employment within three years.

The coalition government has been warned by MPs not to weaken its commitment to eliminate fuel poverty. A report published by the Environmental Audit Committee highlights government moves to redefine the number of people who can be counted as ‘fuel poor’, which will reduce the figure from 3.2 million to 2.4 million households overnight.

Deprived areas across England and Scotland are seeing larger cuts to local authority budgets – of around £100 per head – than in more affluent ones, according to a new report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The JRF research analyses the scale and pattern of cuts in spending on local government in England and Scotland since 2010. It also includes detailed analysis of the approaches taken by three local councils (Newcastle, Coventry and Milton Keynes).

There is a strong anti-poverty consensus among all local organisations in Glasgow (Scotland), according to a paper from a European Union-funded research programme. And a real commitment exists among political parties, the authors find, to work in partnership to meet the needs of those in poverty – though subject to the constraints of a highly centralised benefits system.

As many as 19.6 per cent more people in England and Wales died during the winter months in 2012-13 compared with the non-winter months – up from 15.5 per cent in 2011-12 – according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

Official figures for the level of benefits received by households have been revealed as a result of a freedom of information request.

A table published by the Department for Work and Pensions shows the average amount of benefits and/or tax credits paid between April 2011 and March 2012, in bands of £1,000. The payments relate to 'benefit units' – defined as a single adult, or a married or cohabiting couple and any dependent children. The figures include income from the full range of benefits, for all ages, including working-age benefits (income related and otherwise), disability benefits, retirement pension and child benefit, as well as tax credits.

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PSE:UK is a major collaboration between the University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York working with the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. ESRC Grant RES-060-25-0052.